Hordeum is a genus of about 30 species of annual and perennial grasses

Poaceae

The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...

, native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere

Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...

, temperate South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, and also South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

.

One species, H. vulgare (barley

Barley

Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...

), is of major commercial importance as a cereal

Cereal

Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...

 grain, used as fodder crop and for malting in beer

Beer

Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...

 and whiskey production. Some species are nuisance weed

Weed

A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...

s introduced worldwide by human activities others endangered due to habitat loss.

Hordeum species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including The Flame

Flame (moth)

The Flame is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found throughout Europe.This species has creamy-buff forewings with black streaking along the costa. The hindwings are whitish with a dark line along the margin. The wingspan is 30-36 mm...

, Rustic Shoulder-knot

Rustic Shoulder-knot

The Rustic Shoulder-knot is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout Europe and is also found in North America....

 and Setaceous Hebrew Character

Setaceous Hebrew Character

The Setaceous Hebrew Character is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in the Palearctic ecozone. It is a common species throughout Europe. It is also found in North America, from coast to coast across Canada and the northern United States to western Alaska. It occurs in the Rocky Mountains...

.

Species

The genus Hordeum comprises many species (see much longer list at WikiSpecies entry):

• Hordeum arizonicum
  Hordeum arizonicum
  Hordeum arizonicum is a species of wild barley known by the common name Arizona barley. It is native to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, where it grows in wet spots in desert regions, such as irrigation ditches. It can grow in somewhat saline soils. This is an annual or perennial...
  
  
• Hordeum bogdanii
• Hordeum brachyantherum
  Hordeum brachyantherum
  Hordeum brachyantherum, known by the common name Meadow barley, is a species of barley. It is native to western North America from Alaska to northern Mexico, coastal areas of eastern-most Russia , and a small area of coastal Newfoundland....
  
  
  • H. brachyantherum subsp. brachyantherum
  • H. brachyantherum subsp. californicum
• Hordeum brevisubulatum
  • H. brevisubulatum subsp. brevisubulatum
  • H. brevisubulatum subsp. iranicum
  • H. brevisubulatum subsp. nevskianum
  • H. brevisubulatum subsp. turkestanicum
  • H. brevisubulatum subsp. violaceum
• Hordeum bulbosum
• Hordeum capense
• Hordeum chilense
• Hordeum comosum
• Hordeum cordobense
• Hordeum depressum
  Hordeum depressum
  Hordeum depressum is a species of barley known by the common names low barley and dwarf barley. It is native to the western United States from Idaho to California, where it can be found in moist habitats such as vernal pools. This is a small annual grass forming petite patches of thin, hairy leaves...
  
  
• Hordeum erectifolium
• Hordeum euclaston
• Hordeum flexuosum
• Hordeum fuegianum
• Hordeum guatemalense
• Hordeum gussoneanum (sea barley)
• Hordeum intercedens
  Hordeum intercedens
  Hordeum intercedens is an diploid, annual species of wild barley known by the common names bobtail barley and vernal barley. It is native to southern California and northern Baja California, where it is an increasingly rare member of the flora in saline and alkaline soils near seasonal waterflows...
  
  
• Hordeum jubatum
  Hordeum jubatum
  Hordeum jubatum is a perennials plant species in the grass family Poaceae. It occurs wild mainly in northern North America and adjacent northeastern Siberia. However, as it escaped often from gardens it can be found worldwide in areas with temperate to warm climates, and is considered a weed in...
  
  (foxtail barley)
• Hordeum lechleri
• Hordeum marinum
  Hordeum marinum
  Hordeum marinum, commonly known as sea barley, is a species of grass....
  
  (sea barley)
• Hordeum murinum
  Hordeum murinum
  Hordeum murinum, commonly known as wall barley or false barley, is a species of grass.They can grow to 30 cm in height and its unbranched spikes can reach 10 cm long. It is quite widespread and common. It grows during May - July in mainly costal areas...
  
  (wall barley)
  • H. murinum subsp. murinum
  • H. murinum subsp. glaucum
  • H. murinum subsp. leporinum
    Hordeum murinum subsp. leporinum
    Hordeum murinum subsp. leporinum is a subspecies of Hordeum murinum .Its common names include hare barley, mouse barley, and barley grass.-Taxonomy:...
    
     (hare barley)
• Hordeum muticum
• Hordeum patagonicum
  • H. patagonicum subsp. patagonicum
  • H. patagonicum subsp. magellanicum
  • H. patagonicum subsp. mustersi
  • H. patagonicum subsp. santacrucense
  • H. patagonicum subsp. setifolium
• Hordeum parodii
• Hordeum procerum
• Hordeum pubiflorum
  • H. pubiflorum subsp. pubiflorum
  • H. pubiflorum subsp. halophilum
• Hordeum pusillum
  Hordeum pusillum
  Hordeum pusillum or little barley is a diploid-type species of the Poaceae family of grasses. H. pusillum, native to the United States except the westernmost parts, originated via multiple long-distance dispersals of a southern South American species of Hordeum to North America about 1 million...
  
  (little barley)
• Hordeum roshevitzii
• Hordeum secalinum
• Hordeum stenostachys
• Hordeum tetraploidum
• Hordeum vulgare (barley)
  • H. vulgare subsp. vulgare (barley)
  • H. vulgare f. distichon (two-rowed barley)
  • H. vulgare f. hexastichon (six-rowed barley)
  • H. vulgare subsp. spontaneum (wild barley)

External links

• species of Hordeum in "Wildflowers of Israel": Spntaneous Barley, Bulbous Barley, Wall Barley, Hordeum marinum,
• Hordeum hystrix, Hordeum vulgare
• Crop Wild Relatives Gap Analysis Portal reliable information source on where and what to conserve ex-situ, regarding Hordeum genepool